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XVIII. An Account of a furprifing Inunda- 
tion in the V alley of St. John’s near Kef- 
wick in Cumberland, on the 2 2 d Day i 
Auguft 1749, in a Letter from a your, 
Clergyman to his Friend ; communicated by 
John Lock; Efq\ F. R. S. ' 
Feb. 12. 174 <7. 
SIR, 
MMarchTN order to give you a diftind Anfwer 
I /+ 9 - ^ t0 your Queries in relation to the In- 
undation at St. John’s, I took a Ride to the Place 
to fatisfy my felt of the Matter of Fad, bccaule the 
Accounts which were given me were very different. 
This remarkable Fall of Water happened at 9 
o’Clock in the Evening, on the 2 2d of Auguji laft, 
in the Midft of the moll terrible Thunder, and in- 
ceffant Lightning, ever known in that Part in the 
Memory of the oldeft Man living, the preceding 
Afternoon having been extreme hot and fultry. And 
what feems very uncommon, and difficult to account 
for, the Inhabitants of the Vale, of good Credit, 
affirm to have heard a ftrangc buzzing Noile like 
that of a Malt mill, or the Sound of Wind in the 
Tops of Trees, for two Hours together, before the 
Clouds broke. 
I am not fo much a Phi'ofophcr as to find out 
what could occafion fuch a vail Colled ion of Clouds 
or Vapours, particularly at that Time and Place; but 
am fatisfy ’d from the Havock it has made in lo ffiort 
a time (for it was all over in lefs than two Hours), 
that 
